Blue Moon, Total Lunar Eclipse And Supermoon All To Take Place On Jan. 31

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Earth will be treated to a hat trick of amazing lunar sights on Jan. 31, when a blue moon, total lunar eclipse, and supermoon will all take place on the same day. The rare event last took place over 150 years ago and the only question now is: where’s the best place to see the historic lunar show?

While the entire U.S. will get a partial view of the moon that day, NASA researchers say sky watchers in Alaska, California, and Hawaii will get the best look at the Super Blue Blood Moon. “Weather permitting, the West Coast, Alaska and Hawaii will have a spectacular view of totality from start to finish,” Gordon Johnston, program executive and lunar blogger at NASA Headquarters said in a statement. “Set your alarm early and go out and take a look.”

Johnston adds that the country’s Eastern time zone will have the most trouble seeing the eclipse on Jan. 31, which begins at 5:51 a.m. ET.

“Your best opportunity if you live in the East is to head outside about 6:45 a.m. and get to a high place to watch the start of the eclipse—make sure you have a clear line of sight to the horizon in the west-northwest, opposite from where the Sun will rise,” Johnston added.

For the Central and Mountain time zones, NASA says viewers will start to see the rare moon cycle come into view just before 5 a.m. local time and reach the peak of the blood moon eclipse between 6:15 and 6:30 a.m.

For Americans who decide to sleep in or don’t get a great look at the eclipse, NASA says the Jan. 21, 2019 lunar eclipse will likely be visible across the entire country and it will also be a supermoon (when the Moon reaches its closest point to the Earth). The 2019 eclipse, unfortunately, will not be a “blue moon” which only come around every 2.7 years.